Lifting apparatus



April 3, 1962 D. B. cHEsKlN 3,023,144

LIFTING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 7, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Figure Da v/'d E. Chaski/7 A TTORNEX April 3, 1952 D. B. CHESKIN 3,028,144

LIFTING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 7, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Figure 3 i 4 *A 33 l y: ni5f`earox/ JJ @N8 `34 f Motor) F /gure 4 ...ri iqiiiim /NVE/v ron: 25 l David B. ches/rin A TTOR/VEX United States Fatent 3,028,144 LIFTIN G APPARATUS David B. Cheskin, 407 S. Dearborn, Chicago, Ill. Filed Jan. 7, 1960, ser. No. 1,003 4 Claims. (Cl. 254-109) This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 802,870, filed March 30, 1959.

The present invention relates to a simplified improved form of lifting apparatus suitable for raising heavy loads to high elevations and is particularly adapted to operate from the top of a column.

A plurality of lifting apparatus are further adapted to being used with a system of spaced columnswhereby reinforced concrete slabs, oor frames, or the like, may be lifted from ground level to their respective elevated positions to in turn effect a modern lifting erection system. The usual simple form of jack-means, geared Winches, cranes, and the like, are not readily adapted to effect slab lifting operations because of the great heights which may be involved, as well as because of extremely heavy loads which have to be lifted uniformly over wide building areas.

Briefly, the simplified improved lifting apparatus of the present invention comprises in combination a lower pair of opposing spaced horizontally positioned holding members having their lower edges pivotally engaged with a lower supporting base, said holding members straddling movable vertically positioned notched rods and having portions thereof adapted to engage with the latter, an upper pair of opposing spaced horizontally positioned holding members having their lower edges pivotally engaged with an upper supporting base, said upper holding members straddling said notched rod and also having portions thereof adapted to engage with the rods, jacking means between the lower sup-porting base and the upper supporting base providing thereby means for lifting said upper holding members with respect to said lower holding members, with said upper members thereby effecting the lifting of the notched rods through the lower holding members for an incremental vertical rise.

In using the present invention to effect the lifting of 'heavy loads, such loads may be directly attached to the notched rods and thus lifted as the latter or incrementally raised upwardly through the holding members. While the apparatus is particularly adapted for a grid type of erection system, it may well be used in connection with other lifting jobs as, for example, the lifting of boats or ships at a drydock, or for adjusting the height of a movable platform or of elevator means.

In the building construction method utilizing slabs or other types of floor and roof construction, one or more concrete oors or structural assemblies may be poured, or otherwise assembled, at the ground level and lifted into place around a system of vertical supporting columns. This system of building is economical in that it eliminates much of the expensive labor required to effect the placement of form work or the assembly of many small units at each of the various floor levels. Multiple storied buildings actually obtain more economical benefits than one or two story buildings inasmuch as a larger number of forming and assembly operations at the multiple floor levels are eliminated by having each floor, aswell as the roof, poured or assembled directly at the ground floor level. Y

It is also a feature of the invention to have incorporated therewith, in an alternative type of construction, a threaded rod adjustment means which can be incrementally adjusted to, in turn, adjust the position of one pair of rod holding members with respect to the other pair such that a load may be lifted or held at a predetermined finely adjustable level without regard to the spaced vertical increments provided -by the notched rods.

The improved simplified construction and arrangement, as lwell as the operation of the lifting apparatus, will be more apparent upon reference to the accompanying drawings and the following description thereof.

FIGURE 1 of the drawing is an elevational view of the lifting apparatus shown in operating position at the top of a building column for use in lifting a load.

FIGURE 2 of the drawing is an elevational side view of the lifting apparatus, as indicated by the line 2-2 in FIGURE l.

FIGURE 3 of the drawing is an elevational view of the lifting apparatus, somewhat enlarged with respect to that shown in FIGURE l, and incorporating therewith threaded rod means for effecting an incremental adjustment of vertical spacing between upper and lower portions of the lifting apparatus.

FIGURE 4 of the drawing is a sectional plan view of the apparatus, as taken along line 4--4 in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional elevation side View through the lifting apparatus, as provided by the line 5--5 in FIGURE 3 of the drawing.

Referring now to FIGURES l and 2 of the drawing, there is indicated diagrammatically a column 1 having a supporting cap plate 2 which, in turn, is adapted to hold a lower supporting base plate 3. The latter may be bolted or otherwise removably attached to the cap plate 2. The base plate 3 is adapted to support a pair of opposing rod holding members 4 and 5. The lower horizontal edges of the members 4 and 5 are in turn shaped or constructed to be rotataively or pivotally engaged with the supporting base plate 3. 4In one simple Aform of construction they may have rounded edges which,

in turn, fit in to longitudinal grooves 6 which have a smooth concave cross-section extending across the width of the plate 3. inasmuch as members 4 and 5 will be holding and transmitting heavy loads to the supporting column 1, they in turn may be provided with suitable reinforcing ribs, such as ribs x7 and 8 respectively. On the inside opposing faces of each of the members 4 and 5, there are also provided strong wedge-shaped blocks or sections 9 and 9' that are welded or otherwise xedly attached to the respective holding members. The members 9 and 9 are in turn adapted to engage with the notched lifting rods 10 to effect the holding of the latter when the lifting apparatus is in use for a load lifting operation. It is also a feature of the present construction and operation to utilize suitable springmeans between the opposing pair of holding members 4 and 5 to provide means for maintaining the latter, or more particularly the holding pieces 9 and 9', in contact with the notched rods Q10 in the manner of pawls. In the pres-ent simplified embodiment, a pair of compression springs 1i are utilized on the outside of the plates 4 and 5, being held in place at the ends of a bolt 12 having nuts and washers at each end thereof, extending through the plates. The springs 11 also bear against suitable beveled washers 13 which in turn can bear on and move against the plates 4 and 5'.

The lower ends of the notched rods 10 are provided with removable clamps or other load Aholding clamps such as nuts and plates indicated as 14 and 15, whereby slabs or other loads may be removably attached thereto for lifting. It is not intended, however, to limit Vthe present invention to any particular type of clamping or holding means at the ends of the notched rods 10 which will be vertically lifted during 4the operation of the apparatus. Still other means may be wedge shaped pockets built into the slabs or frames to be lifted which will permit attachment from above the load.

Resting on the lower supporting base 3 is a suitable jack 16, which is preferably pneumatically or hydraulically operated and capable of lifting heavy loads. The jack may have suitable connection for attaching air or hydraulic lines from remotely positioned valves or central console. The jack 16, in turn, supports an upper supporting base 17 which may be similar in size and construction to the lower base 3 and further constructed and adapted to support a pair of opposing horizontally posiy ti'oned upper holding members 18 and 19. The latter are constructed and arranged to operate in a manner sim- 'lar v'to the lower holding members 4 and 5, having their iower edges rotatively or pivotally engaged with the base 17. 'Ihe latter is provided with longitudinal grooves 29 extending across the width of the base plate in the same manner as the lower base having grooves 6.

The upper holding members 18 and 19 are further provided with suitable reinforcing ribs 211 and 22, respectively, and wedge-shaped sections 23 and 23 which are adapted to engage with the notched rods 10. Adjacent members 1S and 19 are suitable compression springs 24 held in place at the ends of bolts 25 having nuts and washers at each of their ends. Also suitable beveled washers 26 are placed adjacent the members 4 and 5 to hold the springs 24. It is also a feature of the present simplified construction to utilize spring means between the upper and lower base plates to work against the jack-means 16. In the present embodiment, a pair of vertically positioned springs 27 between the lower base plate 3 and lower base plate 17 are positioned on opposing sides of the jack 16 so as to provide suitable tension means for retracting the upper set of holding members with respect to the lower set as the jack means is being lowered for purposes of taking another incremental engagement with the notched rods during lifting operations. The springs 27 may be attached to the lower plate 3 by means of eye-bolts 28 and to the upper plate 17 by eye-bolts 29.

Various shaped notched rods may be used in combination with the holding members to provide a lifting apparatus which eects incremental stages of lifting of the notched rods and their loads which are attached at their respective lower ends. The present drawing shows diagrammatically one desirable form of rods which have undercut vertically spaced notches by reason of downwardly sloping side segments which, in turn, provide inverted V-like sections. The present embodiment also utilizes a single pair of notched rods 10, one rod being placed on each side of the column and at each end of the respective pairs of holding members. A pair of rods provides better balance and easier lifting of heavier loads; however, additional rods could well be used at the ends of the holding member or at the other sides of the column by incorporating other pairs of holding members on an enlarged supporting plateA In operation, the upper pair of holding members 18 and 19 take an initial contact with the notched rods 10 so that the latter, in turn, will transmit the load from the lower ends to the top of column 1 through the jack 16. As the jack 16 is operated to effect the raising of its upper end and the upper base 17, the upper edges of the wedge sections 23 and 23" on the upper pair of holding members 18 and 19 eiiect an engagement with the underside of a notch on the rods 10 and start the lifting of the latter to take the load. Normally, the jack 16 rises sufciently that the notched rods 10 slip up and along the wedge-shaped sections 9 and 9 until the latter snap in and under the next lower notch of the series of vertically spaced notches along rods 10. Thus, as the jack 16 ceases its vertical lifting operation and begins to retract the load from rods 10 is transmitted tot the lower set of holding members 4 and 5 by virtue of the engagement of sections 9 and 9" with the rods 10. At the same time, springs 2.7 maintain compression on top of the jack 16 during its retraction and there is effected the downwardly sliding movement of wedge members 23 and 23 along the sides of the inverted V-portions of notched rods 10 until such time as springs 24, in turn, effect the snapping in of the upper edge of sections 23 and 23' under the next lower notches of bars 10 whereby they are then ready for the reverse or lifting operation of jack 16.

In a slab lifting operation, one or more slabs are lifted in incremental stages as has been described until the lower slab, such as 30, would be at the required Vertical elevation along column 1. It would then be engaged with and supported from the columns by suitable means. In a large building construction with many columns, such as 1, suitable steel shear-heads or other connecting sections may be embedded in the concrete and constructed to slide around the columns 1 but, at the same time,

have means which would permit bolting or welding or otherwise engaging with the columns to effect the desired engagement between slabs and columns. After placing the lower slab 30 in its proper horizontal elevation, the lower ends of rods or bars 10` would be disengaged therefrom and attached below the next lower slab section 30 to permit it and superimposed slab sections to be raised to still higher elevations. The lifting apparatus assembly is, of course, necessarily adapted to being connected with and positioned on the top of another column section which, in turn, may be assembled on top of the column section 1 to effect the raising of a successive story of a building.

Reference is now made to FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 of the drawing which, in turn, show the construction and assembly of the principal components of the lifting apparatus to be the same as that shown and described in FIGURES l and 2. There is however, a modification with respect to the upper base section 17 in that it has two threaded or tapped holes to provide for a pair of threaded rods 311 -and 3-1. The latter are symmetrically positioned on each side of the jack means 16 and between holding membens 18 and 19 so that the lower ends thereof may come to rest on the lower base plate 3- and between the lower pair of holding members 4 and 5. The length of the threaded rods 3-1 and 31 should be sufficiently long to permit incremental adjustment and positioning of the upper base plate 17 with respect to the lower base plate 3 for any elevational distance approximating the distance between vertical notches of the notched bars 10. The adjustment of rods 31 and 31' may be accompanied by turning the flat-sided heads, or nut-like segments, 32 and 32 respectively, or alternatively by means of an electrically operated motor and gear means connecting therewith to grooved or elongated tooth-like segments 33 and 33 on the respective rods 31 and 31'.

Where it is desired to have gear means and electrical operation to effect the adjustment of the thread rods 31 and 31', then a motor 34 having a gear box 35 is supported on the top of the base plate 17 between members 18 and 19. A shaft 36 from the gear box 3S has a gear 37 of a size suitable to engage with the elongated toothed members 33 and 33 whereby the operation of the motor 34 provides for the turning of the latter and of the rods 31 and 31'. A reversible motor and proper threading of the rods 31 and 31 permit the latter to be incrementally raised or lowered to any desired elevation.

As previously set forth, the particular advantage of the incremental adjustment provided by the threaded rods 31 and 311' is to permit the holding of the upper base plate 17 and the upper pair of holding members 18 and 19 together with the notched bars 10` in any elevation above base plate 3 independent of the vertical distance between vertically spaced notches on bars 10. For example, in effecting the lifting of any given load to a desired exact vertical elevation, the lifting of the bars 10 a given increment between notches may not have the load coincide with such desired elevation, in which case, the lifting of the jack 16 is stopped at the desired elevation and the threaded rods 31 and 31 are adjusted manually or, through the use of the electrically operated gear means, to have their lower ends come in contact with the lower base plate 3 to, in turn, complete the transmission of the loads from base 17, the holding members 18 and 19, and bars 10. The load is thus supported at a predetermined point without depending on the permanent positioning or holding of the jack means 16 or of the engagement of the lower holding members 4 and 5 with notches in bars 10.

Suitable switching means, which is not shown in the present drawings, may of course be connected to the reversible motor 34 through suitable wiring, whereby incremental adjustment on the threaded holding rods 311 and 31 may -be effected without being at the zone of the lifting apparatus. Other gearing arrangements may, of course, be developed to effect the adjustment of the rods and, if desired, additional rods similar to those shown as rods 31 and 311 may be brought into combination with the lifting apparatus to aid in obtaining the desired transmission of loads to the top of the column.

It is not intended to limit the present invention to any particular load limits or to any particular size and dimensions, nor is it intended to limit the height of colums to which the apparatus may be attached inasmuch as each column may be erected and guyed in position until such time as iloor slabs or other lateral members aid in effecting lateral support.

As previously pointed out, subsequent stages of vertical columns may be erected in a multiple story building construction to effect the stage-wise lifting of multiple floor slaps for a high building.

I claim as my invention:

1. A lifting apparatus comprising in combination, a lower supporting base and an upper supporting base, a lower pair of opposing spaced horizontally positioned holding members having their lower edge portions pivotally engaged with said lower supporting base, an upper pair of opposing spaced horizontally positioned holdin-g members having their lower edge portions pivotally engaged with said upper supporting base, a movable pair of vertically positioned notched lifting rods adapted to extend between and be engaged with said pairs of holding members, the latter straddling said notched rods and having upper edge portions adapted to engage with the notches of said movable pair of rods, jacking-means between said lower base and said upper base providing thereby means for spacing said bases and for lifting said upper base and said upper pair of holding members, whereby said upper members effect the lifting of said notched rods through said lower holding members for an incremental vertical rise, and rotatable and adjustable threaded rod means threadedly engaged with said upper supporting base and having a portion extending vertically therebelow a sufficient distance to reach the top of said spaced lower supporting base, whereby such threaded means may be adjusted to rest on said lower base and hold said upper holding members and said notched rods a variable distance above said lower base independently of the distance between said spaced notches on said notched rods.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further characterized in that gearing means is connected with said rotatable and adjustable threaded rod means 'and reversible motor means is connected with said gearing means providing vertical adjustment of the threaded rod means.

3. The apparatus of claim l further characterized in that each of said holding members have rounded lower edge portions and said supporting bases having longitudinal groove means along their upper surfaces coextensive with and adapted to support said lower edge portions of said holding members in a pivoted engagement therewith.

4. A lifting apparatus compirsing in combination, a lower suporting base and an upper suporting base, a lower pair of opposing spaced horizontally positioned and elongated plate-like holding members, said plate-like members extending in -an on-edge manner entirely across the top of said lower supporting base and having their end portions projecting beyond said base, said members having their lower edge portions rounded and pivotally engaged with coextensive groove-like means along the top portion of said lower supporting base, an upper pair of opposing spaced horizontally positioned and elongated plate-like holding members, the last said plate-like holding members likewise extending in an on-edge manner entirely across the top of said upper supporting base and having their end portions projecting beyond said base while their lower edge portions are rounded and pivotally engaged with coextensive groove-like means across the top of said upper supporting base, a movable pair of vertically positioned notched lifting rods spaced symmetrically and parallel with one another on each side of said supporting bases and adapted to extend between and engage on each side thereof with said pairs of plate-like holding members, the upper end portions of said platelike holding members shaped tand adapted to engage with the notches of said movable pair of rods, spring means connected between the opposing platelike holding members of each of said pairs thereof, and jacking means between said lower yand upper supporting bases effecting the spacing of Isaid bases and providing for the lifting of said upper base and said upper pair of holding members with respect to said lower base and said lower pair of holding members, whereby said upper members effect the lifting of said pair of notched rods through said lower holding members for an incremental vertical rise.

References Cited in the lle of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 168,603 Blake Oct. l1, 1875 252,512 Peace Ian. 17, 1882 604,808 Uptegrove May 31, 1898 1,120,741 Petrie Dec. 15, 19'14 

